The Festival de Cine Fantástico de Canarias - Isla Calavera, is held in Tenerife until Sunday 25th, sponsored by the Tenerife 2030 Area of the Cabildo Insular, the Development Society of the City Council of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the Government of the Canary Islands and the University of La Laguna, among other entities. Multicines Tenerife (C. C. Alcampo, La Laguna), as the official venue, will host for 7 days an excellent program dedicated to the latest proposals of fantastic genre cinema.
The details of this second edition were announced by the Island Director of Culture of the Cabildo of Tenerife, José Luis Rivero; the Deputy Minister of Culture of the Government of the Canary Islands, Aurelio González; the co-director of the Festival, Daniel Fumero; the president of the jury, Santiago Tabernero, and the writer and filmmaker, Víctor Matellano.
José Luis Rivero invited the public "to enjoy the best films of the genre" in a week in which Tenerife "becomes a skull island to enjoy cinema and art" and, therefore, it is an excellent opportunity "to see good cinema and meet in front of the big screens of Multicines Tenerife". He recalled that in this second edition, the Festival has as distinguished guests the American filmmaker Mick Garris, the British actress Caroline Munro and the Italian director, screenwriter and actor Enzo G. Castellari, who will receive the 2018 Skull Island of Honor Award in recognition of their career.
Aurelio González considers that "we should all congratulate ourselves for a cinematographic art that is very thriving in our islands", in addition to being a very sought-after set for the recording of different productions. "Cinema is literature, music, interpretation, all very fertile facets in the Canary Islands".
Daniel Fumero pointed out that "we intend that, at least once a year, this island will be a skull island" and he was very satisfied with the program. "We have the best crop of fantastic films possible this year, with some that have been in renowned festivals, but we also have some that represent their premiere." Fumero indicated that "the short films will give a lot to talk about" and highlighted the inclusion of documentaries in the festival "to encourage the creation of fantastic cinema and to be able to show the magicians behind the productions".
Precisely the inclusion of documentaries in the festival program was an aspect highlighted by Víctor Matellano, who also congratulated the organization for being the first to publicly pay tribute to Yvonne Blake". Matellano said he was "impressed with the level of the festival" in this second edition and, despite considering that "it will be difficult for the jury, it will be a joy what I will find these days".
For his part, Santiago Tabernero said he was happy to return to Tenerife "with the excuse of coming to see cinema" and added that "fantastic cinema is really a planet where many genres and subgenres fit" and considered that Isla Calavera "is a festival that has had a vertical rise in only two editions".
Mick Garris will collect his award at the Official Opening Gala, which will take place tomorrow, Wednesday, the 21st, at Multicines Tenerife. In addition, his latest film will be screened on Friday as part of the Official Competition of Feature Films. In 'Nightmare Cinema', five strangers meet in a haunted cinema owned by the Projectionist, played by Mickey Rourke. Once in the theater, the audience will attend a series of screenings that will bring to light their deepest fears and darkest secrets through five stories. Producer of the film, Mick Garris has also directed one of his stories, the supernatural tale 'Dead'.
Born in Santa Monica (California), Mick Garris is a writer, screenwriter, producer and film director, known mainly for his adaptations of Stephen King stories. He directed the TV miniseries 'Apocalypse' (1994), 'The Shining' (1997) and 'The Curse of Dark Lake' (2011), and the feature films 'Journey into Darkness' (2004), based on the novel 'Riding the Bullet', and 'Despair' (2006). Years before, he made 'Sleepwalkers' (1992), with an original script written by Stephen King expressly for the cinema. His filmography includes other fantastic and horror genre titles, such as 'Critters 2' (1988) and 'Psycho IV: The Beginning' (1994). He was also the creator of the series 'Masters of Horror' and directed two of its episodes.
The Canary Islands Fantastic Film Festival will also pay tribute to actress Caroline Munro, muse of horror film producer Hammer in the 70s and Bond girl in 'The Spy Who Loved Me' (1977).
The Festival program includes the adventure and fantasy film 'The Fantastic Voyage of Sinbad' (Gordon Hessler, 1973). Caroline Munro will present the screening of the film in which she starred as Margiana, a beautiful slave girl who accompanies the legendary Sinbad on his expedition across the seas to solve the riddle of a golden map that Prince Koura, a dark magician, is trying to snatch from them. The actress will also take part in a discussion open to the public about this film, whose visual effects, made in stop motion, are the work of Ray Harryhausen.
The Festival will also award the Honorary Skull Island Award to the Italian filmmaker, mentor of Quentin Tarantino, Enzo G. Castellari in recognition of his career linked to the fantastic genre. The program includes the screening of his film '1990: The Bronx Warriors' (1982), in the Fantastic Classics section. It is an action thriller set in a post-apocalyptic future in which street gangs have turned New York City into a dangerous battlefield.
Castellari is a referent of Italian fantasy, with titles framed in the giallo, such as 'The Cold Eyes of Fear' (1971), the horror film 'L'ultimo squalo' (1981), or the science fiction film 'The New Barbarians' (1983). He is also one of the most important directors of the spaghetti western, the western cinema produced in Europe that had its heyday in the 60s and 70s, with titles like 'I go... I kill him and come back' (1967), the mythical 'Keoma' (1976), with Franco Nero, or 'That damned armored train' (1978), set in World War II, a title that inspired Quentin Tarantino for his film 'Inglourious Basterds'. Within the adventure genre, he directed the film adaptation of the novel 'Tuareg' (1984), by the Canary Islands writer Alberto Vázquez-Figueroa, starring Mark Harmon and Luis Prendes.
The new Isla Calavera de Honor Award statuette has been designed by special effects master Colin Arthur ('The Neverending Story'), who received the same award in the first edition of the event.
In addition, the Festival has other national guests, who will participate in various activities of the program: the director and screenwriter from Seville Paco Cabezas ('Fear the Walking Dead', 'El Alienista'), the versatile actor, cartoonist and singer Carlos Areces, the screenwriter Eduardo Zaramella ('Noctem'), the director and screenwriter from the Canary Islands Elio Quiroga ('Fotos', 'La Hora fría'), the Canary Islands actor David M. Santana, among others.
Official Competition Sections
The program of the II Festival de Cine Fantástico de Canarias - Isla Calavera includes the competition screening of 15 feature films and 13 short films in competition, sessions dedicated to genre classics and several parallel activities.
Between November 19 and 25, the Isla Calavera Festival will offer titles that form part of the best genre cinema of the moment in an Official Selection featuring the names of Lars Von Trier ('The House that Jack built'), Mick Garris ('Nightmare Cinema'), Pascal Laugier ('Ghostland'), Issa López 'Vuelven (Tigers are not afraid)', Mamoru Hosoda ('Mirai, my little sister'), Nicolas Pesce ('Piercing') and the trio of directors formed by François Simard, Anouk Whissell and Yoann-Karl Whissell ('Summer of 84). The Feature Film Competition is completed with the films 'What keeps you alive', 'Lost in Apocalypse', 'Framed', 'Aterrados', 'Mimesis Nosferatu', 'The Night sitter', 'The Night eats the world', and the Canary Islands production 'Apocalipsis Voodoo', most of them unpublished in the Canary Islands.
The Jury of the Official Feature Film Section is formed by film director, screenwriter and journalist Santiago Tabernero (as president), writer and film director Víctor Matellano ('Wax', 'Vampyres') and professor of Film Theory and History at the University of La Laguna Luis Fernando de Iturrate Cárdenes. Their votes will determine the awards for Best Feature Film, Best Direction, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Special Effects.
The short films selected for competition are 'Villa Offline', 'El Duelo', 'Widdershins', 'L'Hypothèse de la Reine Rouge', 'Sputnik', 'Invaders', 'Máscara de cordura', 'Besoin Dead', 'Gotas', 'Le Blizzard', 'Carga', 'La noche de las sombras' and 'La Proeza'. The Jury of the Official Short Film Section is made up of: Sabino Álvarez, manager of Multicines Tenerife (as president), Tenerife filmmaker Isabel Coll and journalist Benjamín Reyes, who will determine the Isla Calavera Award for Best Short Film.
The spectators, through their votes after the screenings, will also be able to choose their favorites for the Audience Award for Best Feature Film and Best Short Film.
Fantastic Classics
This year, the Festival Isla Calavera offers a film series dedicated to the cult filmmaker Sam Raimi, within which Monday opened the program with the screening of the film 'Darkman' (1990). Next Friday there will be a special session, starting at midnight, on the horror film 'Infernal Possession' (1981). After the screening, there will be a colloquium with the participation of Carlos Areces, Paco Cabezas and Santiago Tabernero. The cycle is completed with 'El ejército de las tinieblas' (1992), a title that can be seen on Saturday night, starting at 23:00h, also with a talk afterwards.
Also part of this selection of Classics, the film 'Strange Days' (1995), by the first woman winner of the Oscar Award for best director Kathryn Bigelow, a cult film set in the last days of December 1999; and the Japanese animated film 'My Neighbor Totoro', written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, on the occasion of its 30th anniversary. In this sense, the Canary Islands Fantastic Film Festival joins the celebrations for the 30th anniversary of Totoro through the collective exhibition '30 years / 30 artists' coordinated by Jordi Pastor and Reinaldo Pereira, an exhibition designed from the different visions and reflections of different creators on this anime icon.
Documentary and Professional Section
In addition to offering genre premieres and recovering classics, the Festival de Cine Fantástico de Canarias - Isla Calavera seeks to be a space for didactics and reflection on authors, productions, trends and phenomena close to the fantastic, and this year opens the program to a documentary section that offers an outstanding selection of titles: 'El traje de Superman' (Juan Manuel Díaz Lima, 2017), 'Un chico de portada: El arte de Macario Gómez' (David Muñoz, 2012), 'El último truco. Emilio Ruiz del Río' (Sigfrid Monleón, 2008) and 'Jack Taylor, witness of the fantastic' (2018). The latter is written and directed by Diego López ('Herederos de la bestia'), who will visit the Isla Calavera Festival to present his work to the public and to collect, as part of the Closing Gala that will take place on Saturday night, the Isla Calavera Award for the Dissemination of the Fantastic.
This award was created this year with the aim of recognizing the work of scholars of the genre, specialized journalists, critics or entities dedicated to the research or promotion of the fantastic. Diego López inaugurates this recognition for his career as a member of the Sitges Film Festival's programming committee, head of the Catalan Festival's Brigadoon Room, editor of the fanzine El Buque maldito, author and collaborator on numerous publications and books, in addition to his documentary facet.
This second edition of the Festival also premieres a professional space with the participation of the distributor Reel One Entertainment. Its director, Víctor Sahún, will visit the Isla Calavera Festival in search of new titles for its Blu-Ray and DVD catalog. This will be the seed of a future audiovisual market aimed at connecting finished projects or projects in development with companies in the audiovisual sector, production companies, television stations, platforms, international sales agents and distributors.
Parallel activities
Among the parallel activities planned, there is also the round table 'The possibility of an island', which will be held at Multicines Tenerife on Saturday, November 24, at 11:00 am, thanks to the collaboration of the SGAE Foundation, in order to reflect on whether insularity is a conditioning factor, a stimulant or a source of inspiration for filmmakers. Speakers will include: Paco Cabezas, Elio Quiroga, Eduardo Zaramella and Víctor Matellano.
Tickets for screenings and other activities are available at the Multicines Tenerife box office and online.
Co-directed by Daniel Fumero and Ramón González Trujillo, the Festival de Cine Fantástico de Canarias - Isla Calavera is an initiative of the Asociación Cultural Isla Calavera, the Asociación Cultural Charlas de Cine, the specialized publication TumbaAbierta and Multicines Tenerife, with the sponsorship of the Tenerife 2030 Area of the Cabildo Insular, Sociedad de Desarrollo del Ayuntamiento de Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Gobierno de Canarias, Universidad de La Laguna, Santander Universidades, Cerveza Dorada, Coca-Cola, Factoría de Cohesión Ciudad y Puerto y Puertos de Tenerife. Collaborators: SGAE Foundation, Tenerife Film Commission, Aula de Cine de la ULL, Reel One Entertainment, Grupo Fly Luxury, Fundación Cine + Cómics, Ksa Mario, Juan Antonio Ribas. Subtítulos y Ediciones digitales, Wehbe, Sandos Hotels & Resorts, La Recova, Canary Pictures Vehicles and Fundación Diario de Avisos and Dark channel, the only one in Spain dedicated entirely to horror, as media partners.
